SALESIAN MISSIONS also operates a newswire as a service to the public and the media. The purpose is to provide information and insight about Salesian programs around the globe as well as news related to global humanitarian issues and organizations working to alleviate poverty.

NEW ROCHELLE, NY (April 07, 2011) – Salesian Missions launched an improved website this week, with the purpose of keeping its donors and partners informed about how its programs make a difference to some of the world's poorest youth in more than 130 countries around the globe.

The website – SalesianMissions.org – showcases the nonprofit organization's new logo and utilizes an interactive map that allows site visitors to easily access information of interest to them.

The map offers the ability to "Find Your Mission," with easy-to-use functions that bring site visitors to specific, compelling information about missions in countries that span across the globe. Search functionality is possible either by type of mission or by country.

"If someone was interested in Bolivia, for example," says Stephen Eross, operations manager for Salesian Missions. "All they have to do is select that country on the map and they are taken to photos and detailed information about the Muyurina Agricultural School, where more than 600 high school students and 100 advanced students receive training and are learning to integrate their work into the local community."

This is just one example of thousands of programs Salesian Missions supports around the globe. Eross explains that because the work they do is so vast and complicated, the improved website works to provide specific examples of how donors' gifts are making an impact in some of the most impoverished and dangerous locations on the planet.

Considering the Salesians are regarded as the single largest provider of vocational and technical training in the world, there are many stories to be told.

"We often call ourselves the world's best-kept secret," says Father Mark Hyde, director of Salesian Missions. "We are committed to telling the stories of our work with thousands of homeless children in big cities as well as remote corners of the globe that have been forgotten and neglected by the rest of society."

The improved website also takes advantage of social media, linking to Facebook and Twitter. Additionally, donors are able to more easily make online contributions and choose to receive information via email.

The website is the culmination of a comprehensive, dedicated effort to improve the nonprofit organization's external communications and increase efficiency.

ABOUT SALESIAN MISSIONS

Salesian Missions, Inc., in New Rochelle, NY, is a registered 501(c)(3) nonprofit organization based in the United States. The mission of the U.S.-based Catholic organization is to raise funds for its international programs that serve youth and families in poor communities around the globe. All donations are tax deductible, with 82% going directly to fund programs. The Salesians of Don Bosco operate more than 3,400 youth education and trade schools, 23 colleges, more than 90 agricultural schools, 216 clinics and hospitals, 225 orphanages and shelters, and a wide variety of social and economic development activities. Salesian Missions has an active presence in more than 130 countries spanning all five continents The Salesians are led by nearly 34,000 priests, brothers and sisters who serve as Salesians of Don Bosco (S.D.B.), the second largest order in the Roman Catholic Church.

To date, more than 3 million youth have received services funded by Salesian Missions. These services and programs are provided to children regardless of race or religion. To date, more than 5 million Americans have contributed financially to this work. The Salesian Missions Office for International Programs has been entrusted by dozens of government agencies and humanitarian organizations to be the stewards of funds dedicated to education programs for desperately poor children.